Saturday, August 9, 2008

trying hard.

I really hate the folks lie this and this who happily reincarnate sites like this (the last being the first site to document this "scene.") The new breed of the combined scenester/hipster is structured in such a way that capitalizes on various forms of arts and culture; eventually institutionalizing it. They don't create anything, and are mostly social opportunists who just moved to the area, banding together as a coping mechanism. Just the melding of scenester/hipster culture is tripping me out, and allows the attitude to take up more space than necessary. It's especially hurtful when I see how it's trickling into my community. I mean, I was born and raised here; the irony of it being a show about gentrification! Sure, we're talking about the closing of a local art gallery, but what about your expensive-ass apartments by Grove St. having displaced actual communities of color by pricing folks out? So, this show to save an art gallery under the guise of community really pisses me off ---- what about the leaving our actual neighborhood intact? What about taking accountability for cyclical nature of displacing and being the displaced?

Why this shit is wack:

The scenesterhipster live to be seen. All their outfits and social graces are generated to buttress this scene.

any fool with $600 can get a DSLR body kit and decent lens kit.

ask yourself: ultimately, what community are these folks supporting? my answer: the folks who are just like them.

What matters to me are the folks who were here before the wave of the hipster migration.

The folks moving in don't create opportunity, but unmask class hierarchies and more opportunities to the already privileged (ie. more cops in a rich neighborhood, schools filling up, etc.)

These folks are parasites in our neighborhoods.

So, it becomes this weird glorification of the absolute opposite of Paris Hilton. Either way, extremism is a terrible thing. Don't support those sites; support those photographers for their actual portfolio, not their scene-docu series. Don't be a scenster/hipster.Be aware of the history of your community.